Ratling fodder is an often disparaging term used by players for items that are artifacts, and usually easy to obtain, but not really all that useful. Artifacts of this kind are generally used to satisfy the hunger of the demented ratling on the way to an ultra ending.
Items usually regarded as fodder[]
The artifacts used in any particular game will vary depending on play style and personal preference. A table of commonly used artifacts can be found below.
| Artifact name | Reasons to use | Reasons to keep |
|---|---|---|
| Black Torc | Autocursing, grants bad luck | Speed bonus and resistances can be useful, works as an undead slaying missile |
| Big Punch | Worse than the Rolf set | High damage one-hander if the player prefers the alternate rewards from Dwarven mystic and Thrundarr |
| Crown of science | Its cursing and dooming nature mean it is risky to wear | Can be useful for learning spells |
| Moon Sickle | It is autocursing and corrupts every time you use it to attack | It's a source of potions of raw chaos that does not cause corruption over time; useful for item polymorphing |
| Sword of Nonnak | Bad damage, there are other guaranteed sources of death ray resistance | The Willpower bonus can be useful for increasing ball radius |
| Ring of the High Kings | Only needed once to get rid of the Eternal guardian | It does have some helpful resistances |
| Potion of literacy | Literacy can also be gained by eating the corpse of a dark sage. If the PC already has Literacy and is not planning on casting spells, increasing the skill is not terribly useful. | This is the only guaranteed way of gaining Literacy |
| Tome of donors | Repeated uses will increase cooldown time beyond practical value; granted bonuses become of minor importance in the late game | Does not seem to have maximum charges so can (technically) be used indefinitely |
| Antediluvian dwarven map fragment | Only necessary for the Rolf quest, and the ratling will count each fragment as an artifact if they are given one at a time. | Fragments can be sacrificed for a large amount of piety, giving up even one makes it impossible to find Rolf |
| Antediluvian dwarven map | Once read successfully, it is no longer necessary for the Rolf quest | |
| Ancient dwarven key | Once used to open the dwarven portal in the sinister dungeon, it serves no further purpose |